Monday, March 30, 2009

There's Really No Such Thing As A Bad Weekend

I didn't even leave my house one time the entire weekend, spent the entire time inside, didn't ever get dressed, but got a lot done and enjoyed myself nonetheless.

Friday Randy went and got groceries since we were in for a major winter storm. I fixed chili for dinner and we hung out watching basketball. I got a call that tri practice was cancelled for Saturday due to the weather. This worked out since I still wasn't feeling too well.

I awoke Saturday morning expecting a massive amount of snow on the ground, but it didn't come until later. When it did finally begin to fall, it was pretty unreal - snowflakes as big as the palm of my 6-year-old's hand! They were huge and falling fast! I have pictures that I'll try to upload at home tonight.

I fixed a yummy breakfast of french toast, bacon, and fruit for the fam and then we dove into some major spring cleaning. It was a pretty productive day, followed by a relaxing evening by the fire with a bottle of wine and a movie. Oh yeah, Rylie and I also baked monster cookies together and they turned out to be quite delicious!

Yesterday I was up early with Harper since it was Randy's day to sleep in. I fixed breakfast again and spent the rest of the day doing laundry and some light cleaning. Rylie and I did a project together. Nothing spectacular, but time with the fam is always great.

I have to run tonight and it will be my first run since last Monday. I hope I don't cough up a lung...and I hope I'm not jumping in too fast and hard this week. I have a lot on my plate, training wise, this week. So I hope I am recovered and rested up enough to be able to do it all. St Louis is only 20 days away, so I can't afford to miss any more days.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Update

I have bronchitis and finally got on some antibiotics yesterday. Harper has a sinus infection, but is doing much better. She is just the sweetest little baby - despite not feeling well, she was still all smiles last night and was cracking us all up! She has learned to say "dada," although we're not really sure if she knows what it means. It's more or less just a new sound she has learned to make and she says it ALL the time! :)

Rylie had a boy call her last night! Mind you, she is just in kindergarten!!! This boy is in her class and also rides the bus with her and lives in our neighborhood. The boy's father actually called the night before to see if it would be okay if Rylie could come over to play one day after school. But then last night the boy called just to talk to Rylie. They were on the phone for a good 10 minutes, which is pretty long for kids that age. I'm not really worried about it being a "boyfriend" situation cuz Rylie has always played with boys. But it's just an early age to be calling your friends, period. I think I would feel this way even if it was a girl calling her just to talk. I'm just not ready for this...

We apparently have a winter storm heading our way. I'm sending Randy to the store tonight so that we don't have to leave the house the rest of the weekend if necessary. Strange how last weekend we were having a picnic in the park and this weekend we are preparing for 10 inches of snow. The midwest is stupid. It looks like a weekend of cleaning, movies, and March Madness at our house.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

I Work With Too Many MU Fans


Seriously...

My friend Brandon and I are running the brackets here at work for the tournament. It amazes me how many people have MU winning the entire tournament! I'm a die hard KU fan, and I don't even have them winning today. It's just the reality of it. We all want our teams to win the championship, but is it really going to happen? MU has had a decent year and all, but they're no national champions - that's for sure!

ANYWAY, I like to play pranks at work and today was the perfect day. There's a guy here who is a die hard MU fan. In fact, pretty much everyone here today is either wearing KU or MU attire. Well, this particular guy is always talking $hit to the KU fans and what not. Well, I took my friend's stuffed MU Tiger and put it on his desk, laying on it's back with a plastic butter knife to his throat with red marker "blood" on the knife. I then stole his MU coffee mug and left a ransom note saying "If you would like to see your mug alive again, please leave 2 Hershey's bars under the water fountain on the 10th floor. Otherwise, your mug will end up like this tiger." Let's just say I'm enjoying some tasty chocolate right now. ;)

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Down With The Sickness!

Our whole household is sick. :( Well, except for Randy. I stayed home from work yesterday and slept most of the day. I went to urgent care last night and waited around for 2 hours to be told that it was viral and they couldn't treat me. They also said to take it easy because all of my training is weakening my immune system. :\ Easy for them to say, they aren't running a half marathon in 3 1/2 weeks...

Randy stayed home from work today because poor little Harper was cranky and had a horrible runny nose. Her fever went up to 101.6, so he took her to the dr and it turns out she has a sinus infection. Poor baby. Plus, she's trying to cut another tooth. I hate when my kids are sick. Rylie is sick too, but she just toughs it out. It's like she constantly has a cough or a sniffle, but never complains.

As for taking it easy...I took yesterday off from working out. Today I did yoga, but I'm going to skip my swim tonight....again. I haven't swam in 2 weeks, which is NOT good!!! But I'm kinda focused on running right now, with the half marathon coming up and all. So I'll take tonight off....but tomorrow I have muscle conditioning and then our 9 mile run! But if I do the run tomorrow, that means I get to take Friday off from training, so that'll be a nice break before tri practice on Saturday. I really hope I can recover quickly because I'm starting to get nervous. Missing training days can really hurt me....but so can training when I'm sick.

The week is half over, at least. I hope everyone is having a good week!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Spring is Here!

Well, I don't know about everyone else, but I had a pretty awesome weekend! And the weather was just the cherry on top!

Friday after work I did my very first 8 mile run. You can read more about it at JourneyToABetterMe. After my run, I went to meet my dad to get Rylie back. She's been at my mom & dad's (2 hours away) all week since she was on spring break. It's definitely good to have her back! But it kind of sucked to be sitting in a car for 2 hours after a long run. My muscles definitely cramped and I felt veeeery nauseaus.

Saturday I was up at 5am so I could get to tri practice. We cycled 22 miles. Then I headed home for a quick nap before heading out to the soccer field for the Wizards home opener. We tailgated most of the afternoon. Unfortunately, the Wizards lost, but it was fun nonetheless.

Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day!!! Around 10am, I thought it would be great for the whole family to have a picnic at the park. I started cutting up fruits and veggies and making sandwiches and I packed us up a lovely lunch and we headed to the park. I walked Harper around for a bit in the stroller and Rylie rode her bike without training wheels for the very first time! It was so exciting because she just TOOK OFF and was flying by! I wish I wasn't at work right now so I could upload some pics. Anyway, it was just a great afternoon outside with the kids.

Last night I made a DELICIOUS dinner, courtesy of Megan at TheParaplegicChef. I have been dying to fix this meal since the first time I read about it! The only difference I had was that I cooked the chicken outside on the grill. I also grilled some peppers to have as a side dish. The black bean salsa was SOOO yummy, we even added it to our salads. This meal was a huge hit - Randy and Rylie loved it too!

The weekend was so beautiful, I hated to see it end. I also feel like I may be coming down with something. I've been fighting a sore throat for days. I really hope I'm not getting sick because I have way too much going on this week that I cannot miss out on - mostly training.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Is This Week Over Yet?

This week has just been one giant fail. I have been zapped of energy and for the first time EVER since I started training for my triathlon and half marathon, I've really slacked off with my workouts. I'm pretty disappointed in myself. Tuesday I had muscle conditioning, but went drinking that night instead of swimming or cycling (my schedule had swimming on it, but I was going to cycle instead since the weather was so nice....but ended up doing neither). Yesterday my yoga class was cancelled (rescheduled for tomorrow) and then last night I ended up not running because I was too tired and just not feeling great at all...so I didn't work out AT ALL yesterday. :\ Today I have muscle conditioning again, and weight training is the only thing on my schedule for today....but I really should swim since I didn't on Tuesday. But I have too much going on tonight, there just won't be any time. So......I have a feeling that after such a lazy week, tomorrow's 8 mile run is really going to suck.

Reality really set in last night. I drove up to Liberty to see my chiropractor and after the 20 minute drive there, I looked to see that the drive was right at about 13 miles. Um....I'm going to be running 13.1 miles in exactly 1 month from today!!! OMG - that is like running all the way from my house to my chiropractor's office in Liberty! WOW....am I nuts or what?!?! And if it takes me nearly 20 minutes to drive it, I can't even imagine how long it will take to RUN it! I just don't know. I've been having a lot of anxiety over it as of late....

In other news, March Madness has begun!!! Brandon and I are heading the bracket pool here at work. We've got quite a few people involved, which always makes it more exciting. I think our pot is going to be over $150 this year. It will be interesting to see how everything turns out.

The next few days are going to be insanely busy...so I'm pretty much looking forward to Sunday getting here so I can rest. I've been having a lot of anxiety lately and I think I'm just spreading myself too thin.

Have I also mentioned lately how much I love my husband?? Cuz that is definitely worth mentioning. There's really no one else in this world that could put up with my shit. He's so good to me and I really am lucky to have him. I've been struggling with some things lately and I just don't know what I would do without him. He truly holds me together without even realizing it.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

The Tooth Fairy Finally Came!

No, not the kind that takes the lost teeth in the middle of the night. The kind that finally brought my 7-month-old nugget baby her first tooth! That's right, Miss Harper is 7 months old today and yesterday she finally cut her first tooth! Rylie cut her first tooth at 5 month, so I've been wondering when Harper would finally get hers. She's so cute - all smiles. I think she feels much better now that it finally came through. She's been pretty fussy the past few days and I think her little gums were just bothering her. I bet the next one isn't far behind, though.

In other news, I got my car back yesterday. They ended up fixing it and not totalling it out, which is good. Unfortunately, I'm going to miss my rental. It was a brand new Dodge Journey and I pretty much loved it. I wasn't thrilled to be driving my old Pathfinder this morning. Oh well.

Bobby took me to go get my car from the body shop yesterday since Randy couldn't get off work early to take me. On the way there, he asked me if I wanted to go get a margarita afterwards. He went and got us a table at Rancho Grande while I paid for my car and when I got there he had an entire pitcher of margs waiting for me. I really did not need an entire pitcher of margs on a Tuesday afternoon, but oh well. Then, just as we were finishing up our drinks and I was feeling a very strong buzz, Bobby proceeded to go ahead and order ANOTHER pitcher! Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty tired and dehydrated today. That was stupid. And I have to train 2 training classes here at work this morning. Great.... I also have to run 4 miles tonight. Double great. I really make poor decisions sometimes.

Well, I hope everyone is having a good day. It's hump day - woot!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Weekend Review

First off, I successfully completed my 7 mile run on Friday! You can read more about it at JourneyToABetterMe. So it's official everyone: I WILL be running in the St Louis half marathon! It's just 5 weeks away, so the next 5 weeks are gonna be crazy!

Friday evening began with Rylie going to her very first slumber party ever. She was so excited! After I dropped her off, I went to go buy running shorts since the weather is getting warmer and I only have running pants/capris. Well....I ended up buying a running skirt. They're so cute and it was comfy too, so I figured why not give it a shot. After my purchase, I was so excited to test it out that I decided to go ahead and do my 7 mile run. As I said, the details of the run are in my other blog, but it felt pretty darn good to accomplish it. Not much else happened Friday night other than I iced my shins and tried to go to bed but was too wound up.

Saturday morning Randy picked Rylie up from the slumber party and she and I headed out the door for the Snake Saturday parade. Well, after driving around for 30 minutes looking for a parking spot that was closer than a mile away, we finally gave up and I took her to Quick Trip to get a slush as a consolation.

Saturday was pretty much a day of errands and running around. Randy got the bike rack for his car finally. Then we all went up to the bike shop so I could have them fix the computer on my bike and so I could also purchase a pair of tri shorts. Yeah, $68 for a stinkin pair of spandex padded shorts! Um, that could have been a new pair of jeans! :\ Oh well...

We headed home after that so Harper could take a nap and then I went up to the mall. I *finally* exchanged the perfume Randy got me for my birthday. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. I went up a couple weeks ago and got several samples based on your suggestions. I did really like both the DKNY Delicious fragrances. I actually came close to purchasing Be Delicious a couple years ago. The only thing was that it seemed to wear off quickly and I wanted something stronger. I also really enjoyed Ralph Wild. I pretty much love all of the Ralph fragrances too. And I actually already own Lacoste Touch of Pink. After many, many, many, MANY sniffing & sampling, I finally decided on Viva La Juicy. It's a floral scent that is also pretty sweet and also strong enough to last all day. I REALLY like it! I find myself constantly smelling myself all day long, lol.

Saturday evening we all drove up to Liberty to have dinner at Uno. I had a gift card that I got from Randy's dad for my birthday and we also had a $5 off coupon, so it was a pretty cheap dinner. When we got home, Josh & Kristen came over and we all had a few drinks and watched Role Models.

Sunday was pretty laid back. I took my bike out for a ride since it was pretty nice out. My parents came up for a couple hours to see Harper and then they took Rylie back with them. She's on spring break this week, so she's staying at their house until Saturday. Randy and I grilled last night - steaks, baked potatoes, and asperagus - YUMMM!!! I so love this time of year!

All in all, my weekend was both productive and enjoyable. I hope everyone else had a great weekend too! :)

Friday, March 13, 2009

TGIF!

Josh & Kristen came over for dinner last night....and somehow we ended up polishing off 6 bottles of wine - wtf?! On a week night! That's crazy! Poor Kristen didn't even make it into work until about an hour ago. I only got about 5 hours of sleep. I feel fine today, but it's probably not a good idea to attempt my 7 mile run tonight. I'm thinking I'll have to put that off until tomorrow morning. Kristen said the reason she slept in was so she would be able to run tonight. If I can do this 7 miles, then I'm going to go for the St Louis half marathon. I really want to do it...so I just need to push myself.

I have a busy weekend ahead: 7 mile run, Snake Saturday parade, Josh & Kristen are coming back over Saturday night, and my parents are coming up on Sunday. I also have a lot of errands I need to run. I need to get a bike rack for Randy's car, some running shorts, biker shorts (ugly, I know, but so helpful for the tooshie!!), a tire pump for my bike. Who knew being a triathlete would end up being so expensive?! Thank goodness it's payday!

The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend, so I'm looking forward to that! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Training, Training, and more Training...

You can read all about it in my fitness blog: JourneyToABetterMe. Basically, my triathlon training is taking over my life. This is a good thing, it really is....it's just exhausting and I feel like I haven't spent much time with my family, especially Harper. She's been in bed or about to go to bed the last 2 nights when I got home. Factor in that she takes an evening nap as well, and I pretty much don't see her much on the week nights. :( But the good news is that I'm getting off work at noon today and will get the rest of the afternoon with that little nugget baby, so that's good!

Life has just been so busy lately! Saturday I had group practice. Then I showered and ran errands. Then I went out for dinner and drinks with the girls for Kristen's birthday. Sunday was a lazy day, and then Monday started another crazy week... Work, chiropractor visits every night all the way up in Liberty, training, running Rylie to this, that, and the other. Tuesday was her dance night and I had to cycle and swim. Yesterday she had gymnastics and I ran 6.3 miles. And tonight we are having Josh and Kristen over for dinner, which I'm totally excited about. I'm just ready for a day off!

I'm sore today, as can be expected. It's a good sore, don't get me wrong...but I'm just so TIRED. Not sleepy, but my body is just worn out. And the depressing part is that all this working out is making me soooo stinkin hungry all the time! With the way I'm eating, I'm never going to lose any weight! Here's what I ate yesterday:

apple
bowl of instant oatmeal
raw veggies (carrots, celery, green peppers, broccoli) with light ranch
salad (romaine lettuce, spinach, carrots, celery, green peppers, purple cabbage, green onion, raddishes) with homemade dressing: 1 part organic balsamic vinegar, 1 part organic olive oil, 1 part Bragg's liquid aminos
Smart Ones frozen entree - lasagna
Shot blocks & mona vie (electrolyte cubes & energy shot) before run - 100 calories each
raw almonds
tuna helper & asperagus for dinner
banana & peanutbutter after evening run

And I seriously think I ate more things that I just can't remember.... I feel like I'm just eating around the clock! I want to lose the rest of this baby weight and I really thought I would with all this training...but I'm coming to realize that my body now needs more fuel....so I'm not sure how that's going to work out.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great week! Sorry I've neglected this blog this week. The other 2 have been pretty up-to-date though. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

And Now....A Birthday Shout Out To My BESTIE!!!


Does everyone know what today is?! Not only is it the 69th day of the year (true story!) and the 32nd anniversary of the day astronomers discovered rings around Uranus (also true - there's a lot of cool shit about March 10th!!!) but is also the 30th anniversary of the day The Militia was expulsed from her mother's uterus! That's right, folks - please join me in wishing a fan-fucking-tastic 30th birthday upon my homie, my partner-in-crime, co-author of The Bung Blog: THE MILITIA!
This chica and I go waaaaaay back! I'm talking back to when our age was displayed in single digits, back when Reagan was the prez, and back before internetting (even DIAL UP!!!). 1986 was the year, and had it not been for a horrific wardrobe malfunction (a theme in our lives) in Mrs. Cooper's 2nd grade class, we just might not be where we are today. What would the world be like without Ash-Hole & The Militia?? Well, there would certainly be fewer water gun drive-by's, The Bung Blog would not exist (nor would the OBB - Original Bung Book), and the 7th sense would be completely unknown to all.
What have we been through in our near-23 years of BEST friendship? What HAVEN'T we been through?! From jumping on trampolines together and playing with our imaginary friend "Jade" who lived in the drain of my parents' pool, to driving across the country together and being in each others' weddings, we've been through it all. We've been roommates, we've been houligans, we've been hungover (duh), we've been considered straight up insane by most, we've been drunk, we've been in fights, we've nearly been arrested, we've been kicked out of public places, we've been each other's life lines. The Militia has always been here for me - she pushed me on the tire swing, she shared my first beer and first cigarette with me (both of which we stole from her step-dad), she let me cry on her shoulder during my first broken heart, she's held my hair while I puked on MANY occasions, she helped me move across the country when my relationship fell apart, she gave me a place to live when I had no where else to go, she stood up with me at my wedding, she STILL lets me call her to cry when things aren't going well, and she will always ALWAYS be my asexual vanilla!
So here's to all the horrible karoke we've sung, all the dancing on bars we've done, and to what is known as BUNG! May the next decade of your life be as bad assed as the first 3!


HAPPY 30th HOLMES!!! I LOVE YER ASS!!!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Birthday Pics!

Okay, so there are over 90 pics from the night of my birthday...so instead of posting them all individually, I have broken them down into a few slideshows for your viewing pleasure. But first, I must post a couple pics of my WONDERFUL husband Randy who threw me an awesome surprise party and went to so much work to create a night I will never forget!



Okay, here is the first slideshow that includes many of my guests:




This next slide show is just a bunch of craziness, drinking, and (in)appropriate behavior:





And this last slide show is again, more craziness, drinking, and drunken debauchery:





It was definitely a crazy night...one I will never forget! To read about some of the funnies of the evening, please click here .


Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It's gonna be a crazy week! Between chiropractor visits, triathlon training, Rylie's activities, and Randy's classes, our family is going to be constantly on the go!

Last night Rylie and I went to the chiropractor up in Liberty as soon as she got home from school. I'm starting to feel a bit better from the wreck, but will need multiple adjustments a week for probably the next 6 - 8 weeks. After our appointment, we picked Harper up from daycare, ate a super quick dinner, and then headed out the door for dance. Randy had a final last night, so we had to take Harper with us. It was a crazy night. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that I cycled 8 miles last night too. It was an exhausting day!

Tonight won't be much different other than Ry has gymnastics instead of dance and I am swimming tonight instead of cycling. Tomorrow I run and Saturday I cycle again. I also had muscle conditioning yesterday and I'm pretty sore. My body is taking a beating this week and the number on the scale has gone up since last week - what the h?!?!

With all the craziness this week, I would like to take a brief moment to send a shout out to my bloggie friend Sarah - you can find her at JustABitOfSilliness,Really . Sarah posted a recipe for Taco Soup that was not only ridiculously yummy AND low cal, but it also took less than 15 minutes to make!!! Literally, from the time I got everything out to fix it to the time we sat down to eat, only about 13 minutes lapsed! THAT is amazing and what a mom on the go needs more of, so thank you to Sarah for sharing!!! :)

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

My Birthday Weekend: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good:

Friday (my actual birthday) I came to work with a ridiculously decorated desk! Srsly...out of control! Glitter everywhere, streamers, signs, banners, you name it. The glitter is still here. Still. Out.Of.Control. I had 3 cards and lots of birthday wishes all day via text, Facebook, myspace, etc.

Friday night Randy fixed me a really nice dinner of shrimp with garlic sauce and veggies over rice. He gave me some perfume and Rylie and Harper gave me a necklace. We spent the evening as a family watching Madagascar 2.

Saturday night Randy took me to dinner at Bristol Seafood Grille at The Power & Light District. He then had a huge surprise party waiting for me at O'Douds at Zona Rosa with all of my closest friends that he had apparently been planning for MONTHS. It was AMAZING!!!!! Drinks were flowing, good times were had by all, and I definitely consumed enough shots to kill a small horse.

The Bad:

A handful of my close friends failed to call me...text me...or send me any sort of birthday love whatsoever. Talking about some of my CLOSEST friends over the past few years. Pretty hurtful.

A blizzard decided to come through Friday night after a week of 60 degree weather and it went ahead and deposited 6 inches of snow on the ground.

I had a raging hangover on Sunday that actually didn't occur until LATE in the day due to the fact that I was still pretty much drunk for the first half.

I woke up at 8:30 am on Sunday after just 6 hours of sleep and never did get a nap the rest of the day.

The Ugly:

Due to the previously mentioned weather conditions, Randy, the girls, and I were all involved in a wreck on the way to take the girls to my brother-in-law's house for the night. No one was seriously injured, but it started the evening on a sour note. We had to get towed, my car is totalled (I've only had it for 10 months), we ended up forgetting my camera in the car (we had others that got used, so fear not!), we were extremely late for our dinner reservations, and all night we were re-living the wreck in our heads. Our addrenaline was so strong, neither of us ate much at dinner. It was just crazy.

Due to the wreck, Randy and I both took yesterday off of work. We are extremely sore and had a lot to deal with yesterday including filing an insurance claim, getting a rental car, cleaning out my car, going to the chiropractor, and going to the doctor. My neck is pretty messed up and considering that I already have 2 herniated discs AND had some bad injuries from the wreck I was in LAST year, I'm basically going to have even more problems than before....

Randy and I also got into a hellacious fight at the end of the night Saturday night...all over a misunderstanding. I cried. But...it's all good now, everything got cleared up.

Oh yeah and our tab (for just me and Randy) was over $200. That was just at the bar. Did NOT include dinner....

So, there you have it. Overall, it was a GREAT night, despite a few hiccups. I have a ton of pics (thanks to friends) to post later. Now I'm just trying to recover....in more ways than one...